Dear Insomnia,

Sorry to put it bluntly but, I hate you. I want to sleep when I want to sleep. Not when you finally release me to fall into an exhausted slumber that hardly refreshes me enough for the day ahead. I’m tired of you being so controlling with my life.
No, I do not want to stay up all night and then become so exhausted that I fall asleep in the middle of the day and then feel terrible when I wake up. It is not fun and I am very tired of you constantly returning to me.
You give me this false pretense that you’ve finally given up on me and are going to let me live a normal life. But then you have to shatter that lovely illusion by coming back and haunting me for weeks on end. Will you please listen and just – GET LOST! Forever.

Thank you.

 

Now I had actually been doing pretty good on the sleeping, but for the past week I can’t get myself to fall asleep when I want/need to.

On the plus side I am 5000 words short of my goal for Inner Peace! I don’t see why I can’t finish it up tomorrow (if I don’t end up going back to it tonight since I can’t seem to get to bed.)
When I write I always set some sort of word count goal for the book so I have something to help keep me focused and also so I don’t end up putting the entire series into one book 😉 . Guardians of Ferrum is set at 80k, though they tend to be a bit more once editing takes place and of course actually finishing the story. I’m thinking that I’ll probably end up hitting 80k and still not be done. I’d say, realistically, it’ll probably be more of a 90-100k. Which is still completely doable before the weekend is over. (Though I probably will be working on all my crocheting projects so I don’t know if I will stay focused like I should, and my bf bought me a new video game today soooo – yea it might not end up happening after all.)

Ok, I better quit blogging or I’m just going to waste everyone’s time 😛

Cheers!

Happy Friday!

So I just realized it’s actually Friday! All week I’ve been behind a day. Yay for the weekend! No plans, and probably won’t do anything different from a normal day of the week, but y’all have an awesome one 😀

I do need to go to the store and get some yarn. A friend of mine is going to have a baby so I want to crochet a baby blanket for her. Just add that to all the other crocheting projects that I currently have. I’m crocheting my boyfriend’s and my cosplays for pokecon, plus I need to make an owl and a rat as surprise for a couple other friends, and then there’s the 100 mini crabs to finish up (I’ve only done 3). And I always find something new to do.

crocheted tail for my cosplay – shiny Espeon

In the writing world, I’ve been finding that by staying up late I actually get a whole lot more work done than I normally do in the day. Maybe because everything is quiet, there’s nothing to distract me, and the cats aren’t going bonkers anymore – they’re the biggest distraction.
I am super excited though because I am seriously almost done with Inner Peace! I was checking it again this morning and I don’t see it won’t be completed by this weekend! Of course that means more work, but also I can actually see a release date coming for it very soon! Just want to jump up and down and scream because I’m so happy 😀
The series just keeps on getting better the more I work on it! The characters keep dragging me down unexpected routes and things have changed so dramatically from my initial plans that I’ve given up trying to plot it out to the end.

Well, the cats are acting all crazy (they do that when I don’t feed them exactly when they want to be fed :p ) So I better go and get all of us some breakfast. (Plus I want to take a break from the computer and play some Pokemon :p )
I’ll leave you with a picture of my kitten Ichigo to brighten your day 😉 Cheers!

 

Updating…

Ok, so I still don’t have my own computer and I probably won’t be able to get one until this fall when I start school back up. In the meantime I’ve been using my bf’s but his has been having issues which are now FINALLY fixed! So that’s why I’ve been silent for awhile, now I can finally get back into the flow of things 😀

Well, I am progressing rapidly with Inner Peace! I’m hoping to announce a release date for it sometime in July or August. (Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly!)
Plus I can’t wait to start writing Inner Life, which will be book 3 (Inner Spirit will actually be book 4 instead.) Though I’m also thinking that I’ll take a break first and finish the first novella that’s a companion book to the series – there would be additional novellas that focus on some other characters in the series that I’ll write eventually as well. We’ll see how it all goes. Especially since school will take up so much time and I need to start planning out the second book in the Cats’ Biographies which I’ll be writing for Nanowrimo this year!

So, so much to do.

My boys had their 2nd birthday (Terra and Ventus my kitties :p) and we got them both their own pets!

They are Chaos Ripper and Wayward Wind, the hermit crabs.

Terra with Wayward Wind

The cats all really love to watch them, and they’re actually more interesting creatures than you’d think, plus super easy to take care of.

I got to see bits and pieces of E3 and I am soooooo excited for Kingdom Hearts 3! 😀 KH is my all time favorite game and I can’t wait!  Just need to find a game to keep me busy till KH HD 1.5 ReMix releases this fall!

Last thing, if any of my followers are pokemon fans and going to cons this summer, my bf and I will be at the Pokecon in Louisville, KY next month! I’d love to meet any of you 😀

Cheers!

I am alive!

Backyard and a family of geese (with seven babies)

So I have been back from my vacation for about a month now. It was a wonderful break and I greatly enjoyed myself! So sorry for not coming back sooner to give any updates, I’ve just been caught up in everything.

Ok then, let’s see, it is officially spring and, unfortunately, my allergies have really been kicking me in the butt this year.
The cats love the windows being open though and also the flowers that we got for the deck.

Ichigo & Ventus. (plus Ichi’s b’day present of the house)

I also can’t believe my little baby, Ichigo, turned 1yr a week ago! I remember bringing that tiny, starved, flea-infested kitten home like it was yesterday. My other boys turn 2 in a little under a week as well. All of the kitties are growing up too fast!

So my boyfriend’s parents gave us some old end tables that they had replaced and thought we could use. I’ve been sanding them down and am almost ready to get those stained and then they’ll be good as new! Just trying to think of how I want to give the drawer handles a face-lift too instead of replacing them. I’ve also been crocheting like crazy… mostly because I’m trying to get a care package together to send to my two best friends. I have a poke-ball that I plan on stuffing with mini crabs and octopus for them 😉
They are also huge Harry Potter fans so I am making them each a scarf for their houses – Gryffindor and Ravenclaw – they also were able to finally convince me to give the books a try (I was never allowed to read them as a kid since my parents deemed them evil). I finished book 3 and am impatiently awaiting the arrival of book 4 in the mail. I actually really enjoy them and am planning on making myself a scarf for my house – Slytherin –

Other than finally being able to get caught up on the multitude of books that I’ve been wanting to read, I’ve just been gaming – Bioshock Infinite anyone? – and playing around with other crafts.

Of course I’ve been working on Guardians of Ferrum. I actually have almost one whole wall covered in the spare bedroom of character info etc so I can have a visual reminder of who is who since there’s so many characters :p It’s taking a little longer than I thought it would to get Inner Peace ready, but I should hopefully have a release date for it this summer!!!

And… THE BIGGEST NEWS!!!!!! I get to go back to college this fall! I am super excited for this 😀
Most of you probably remember that I already got a degree in graphic design – of course I don’t really get to use any of it except for in the cover designs that I do – but I decided to go back for computer science/engineering. Gonna be a programmer like my boyfriend. It’s extremely interesting. Plus, I was awarded a scholarship and all of my credits transferred so I get to start as a junior! I’m very happy, but of course that will also cut into my time to write…. so we’ll see how that all goes. I may just have to focus on Guardians in my spare time until I finish the series.

Well, enough is enough… I think I will close for now and see ya’ll soon!

Cheers!

Stuff and leaving on vacation!

Hello all, sorry I’ve been neglecting adding any updates for some time. Last week wasn’t a good week for me because I guess I caught the flu and was sick the entire week. Thankfully, I’m all better and just in time too! I am so excited because my very best friends, whom I haven’t seen in over a year, are coming to pick me up on Monday to take me back to stay with them for a few weeks to a month – still undecided on how long I’ll be gone. (They live about 9 hrs away) So that means there will probably be no updates or very, very few.

That also means the boyfriend is left in charge of the five cats… I hope he can handle them :p

Otherwise I’ve just been busy with crafts; painting and giving an old lamp a steampunk face lift! Crocheting and getting gifts ready for my best friend’s birthday. Of course gaming and also some baking.

Speaking of baking, I made these today.

They are rice krispie cinnamon rolls and they are YUMMY!

I found the recipe here if any of you are interested in trying it out.In my opinion, they definitely need the frosting, but it can be overpoweringly sweet if you put too much on.

I keep finding new recipes to try out –  the next one will be a salted caramel cheesecake (it sounds so good). And my boyfriend loves pound cake so I want to try making an orange poppy seed one.

 

Well, anyway… I need to finish the lamp, but I’m waiting on pieces to come for it. I also want to try to make a steampunk wand (going to be in Guardians of Ferrum 😉 )

I also need to get back to writing Inner Peace. I just can’t get my brain to focus right now. I think it’s because I was sick for so long that I didn’t get anything done and now I want to do everything at once. As well as getting the house in order and packed to leave on vacation!

I believe that’s all, else I shall be a rambling machine :p

 

Cheers!

Monday Recommendation: Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children

So I haven’t done a book recommendation in forever it seems. I’ve been so caught up in everything else that I really haven’t had the time to read new books for fun or even think about the old ones that I’ve read so that I could write a recommendation for y’all.

Well I remembered this book and so I bring you the Monday book recommendation once again.

This week is the book Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children

My best friend recommended this book to me quite awhile back. Typically we don’t have very similar likes in books and so when she genuinely thought that I would enjoy this one I decided to give it a try.
I didn’t read what the book was about or look up anything about it. I just rented it from the library and started reading.

The story’s main character is Jacob and the book starts off with his grandfather dying – or being murdered… Well, Jacob’s grandfather was always thought to be a bit of a loon. He would tell Jacob crazy seeming stories that Jacob’s father said was nothing but made up tales because of the horrors that his grandfather had to live through during World War II. Jacob had often listened to the stories about his grandfather living in an orphanage with lots of other peculiar children.

When Jacob and his father end up going to the island in the UK that his grandfather’s orphanage was located, Jacob decides to investigate. He finds the orphanage, run down and falling apart. What he wasn’t expecting to find were the children that his grandfather had described as living with. They were still alive – still children – and wanting him to come back into the past with them.

When I started reading the book I thought it was going to be another modern-day boring book. I wasn’t expecting all of the fantastical elements, time-travel, etc. I was almost ready to put the book down because I thought I’d be wasting my time, but I’m so glad I didn’t. Now, I’m not saying the beginning is necessarily boring, it was just me wanting to read something I knew that I’d enjoy at the time as opposed to something I thought I’d be slogging through. The book is nicely written, keeps your interest, and there’s so much still that is left untold that I can’t wait to read the next book – for there surely has to be a next book.

It was very fun to read and was a surprisingly good, newer book. The characters all are well-portrayed and have good depth as well as being likable. There’s plenty of mystery and adventure, and like I said, there’s plenty that was also left unanswered to guarantee a great sequel.

It’s definitely worth the read. And as my friend recommended it to me – as I am so glad she did – I hereby now recommend to you.

Cheers!

Survivor is here!

 

Survivor, the first book in the Cats’ Biographies series, follows the tale of Ventus the cat. His mother named him Clumsyfoot when he was born, due to his large paws. He had a brother and a sister, Thorn and Astral, and loved living with his family in the little den that his mother had made for them in a small grove of trees. His mother comes to them one day with the bad news that she cannot provide for all of them. In order to save all of her kittens, she sends Clumsyfoot away to live with a warren of rabbits.
Clumsy meets new friends, but he also has to prove to some of the rabbits that he doesn’t pose any threat to them. All is not right in the warren and Clumsy finds himself caught in the middle of an evil rabbit’s power-hungry schemes.
Will Clumsy be able to survive living with the rabbits and everything else that life dishes out for him?

 

Yep, the book is finally available! So excited 😀 Now ya’ll can go and pick yourselves up a copy!
Also, remember by purchasing the book you will be helping with the rescue and care of other needy animals out there since half of all proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the animal shelter, Colony Cats (& Dogs).

It’s available for Kindle, Nook, and in paperback. (Reading range is JF/YA so it is geared for a slightly younger audience than my usual books, but it can still be enjoyed by all.)

Almost there and other stuff

Yep, it’s almost the 22nd! Ya’ll know what that means! Survivor will be released! I am so excited 😀 plus it looks like – hopefully – the print version will be available as well!

So let’s see… My boyfriend’s family came to visit for a couple days this weekend. (If any of you had a 3 day weekend I hope yours was awesome!) I finally got some canvases so now I can paint! I’m just trying to figure out what I want to do now since I don’t want to waste them…

The cats, though, have been driving me insane… I don’t know what’s gotten into all of them but they’ve turned into little devils 😉 They’ve always had their naughty days but it’s been every day this past week since Valentine’s… (I was surprised with some roses and they’ve been wanting to eat them) but they’ve been nearly nonstop attacking each other, getting into everything they’re not supposed to (and usually don’t), and they’re sassy back-talkers  when I reprimand them. I’ve had to give them time-outs in their bedroom just so I can have some sort of peace of mind.

Ok, enough about the babies… So my boyfriend has always wanted me to try out computer programming since that’s what he went to college for and absolutely loves. Now, I’ve always been the artist, went to college for design, etc… so I always thought it looked kind of boring and not pretty enough. I decided to go ahead and give it a try. I’m taking an intro course online and we’ll see if it’s something I want to pursue after that. At least it’s something to do while I’m still looking for a job here – unless the writing can become full-time like I’ve always wanted.

Alrighty then, I’ll see ya’ll when Survivor is released!

Cheers!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Happy Valentine’s everyone! Wishing y’all a wonderful day! ❤

Trying to make some Valentine sugar cookies – the cats think they’re helping by climbing up on the counters to watch me :p Afterwards I have nothing much planned.. My boyfriend doesn’t like Valentine’s Day and so I don’t expect him to do anything for it.

 

Anyway, I cannot believe that Survivor will be releasing in a week! Whoo! I’m so excited 😀 Unfortunately, I’m afraid that there’ll be a delay in the print version (isn’t there always). but the ebooks will still be on time!

 

Oh, and Inner Strength is 50% off for a limited time! (ebook only version) If you still haven’t picked up your copy you really should now 😀
(Here’s the links: Kindle  or Nook)

I think that’s about it. Have a lovely day/weekend!

 

Cheers!

I’m still alive…

I’m sorry for abandoning everyone for so long. I’ve been busy…. watching tv shows…. not being productive…. drawing…. Well it’s about 2 and a half weeks until the first book in my new series, Cats’ Biographies is released! Whoo! I am so excited 😀

And guess what! The new website for the series went live today!

You can check it out if you want (and I know you do 😉 )

Just putting finishing touches to the book and trying to get formatting completed… Also need to get it formatted for the print edition too. Well, I will be busy for these next few weeks, but I will try to stay updated better than I have been.

I so need some chocolate right now…. Keep having to chase the kitties out of the kitchen because they’re trying to raid the trash can. They got their first taste of prosciutto and they loved it and now they want the leftover packaging…. They just don’t listen to me.

Cheers!